Mercury vapor lamp and apparatus



June 9, 1931. 1.. J. BUTTOLPH MERCURY VAPOR LAMP AND APPARATUS Filed Sept. 27, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR June 9, 1931. J BUTTOLPl-l 1,809,265

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L. J. BUTT OLPH v MERCURY VAPOR LAMP AND APPARATUS Filed Sept. 27, 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VENTQR June 9, 1931. L. J. BUTTOLPH MERCURY VAPOR LAMP AND APPARATUS Filed Sept. 27, 1925 '5 sheets-sheet 4 06 mo. zwno June 1931. L; J. BUTTOLPH "ERQURY VAPOR LAMP AND APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 27, 1923 INVENTOR ms ATTORNEY Patented a... 9, 1931 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LEROY J. BUTTOLPH, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR 1'0 GEN'ERAL ELEG- TRIO VAPOR LAM]? COMPANY, A CORPORATION NEW JERSEY MERCURY VAPOR LAMP AND APPARATUS Application filed September 27, 1923. Serial No. 665,069.

This invention relates to mercury arc lamps for laboratory and experimental use and t apparatus therefor.

Previously for use in commercial and research Work there were available only the large mercury-arc lamps such as are used for office and factory illumination. But at best the apparatus contrived is necessarily cumbersome and unwieldy.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a lamp of small size operable on ordinary lighting voltages.

Another purpose of my invention is to pro- Vide means in a mercury pool lamp for retarding the flow of mercury therein and thus to prevent the hammer of the mercury against the glass wall which in shipment and movement of the lamps often causes the breaklng of the wall at seal-ins, etc., or weakens the glass so much as to greatly decrease the length of life of the lamp.

Another purpose of this invention is to provide a small mercury arc lamp adaptable for various illumination purposes such as for use in connection with microscopes, spectroscopes, polarimeters, interferometers, etc.

Another purpose of this invention is to provide an arc lamp for use in laboratories where a light of standard wave length is desired such as for use in the study of sugar rotation, interferometry, spectrometry, etc.

Another purpose of this invention is to provide a source of high intensity near and far ultra violet radiations of such wave lengths as are transmitted by fused quartz glass.

Another purpose of this invention is to provide a lamp which, with its auxiliary apparatus, will operate on either alternating or direct current.

By using a fused quartz tube mercury arc lamp as a light source the principal lines from the 10, 140 A line in the infra red to those in the extreme ultra violet up to the limits of transmission of the clear fused quartz are available including a very complete series of ultra violet lines. In the visible range very pure lines can be isolated with monochromatic filters, some of which have been developed for yellow, green, blue 50 and violet lines.

In the drawings Fig. 1 showsthe laboratory arc-lamp mounted in a case'on a base in which. is the auxiliary apparatus, Fig. 2 shows a frontview of the lamp case with an adjustable slit and with filter holders.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional front view through the lamp casing showing the mercury arc lamp mounted therein and connections to the lamp. Fig. 4 is a top view of the lamp casing. Fig. 5 is an interior view in plan of the base showing the ariangement of apparatus therein.

Fig. 6 shows in plan the details of the easing shell. Fig. 7 shows in plan the details of the left slot shutter. Fig. 8 is a diagram of connection for the auxiliary apparatus of the lamp. Fig. 9 is a front elevation of the mercuryarc lamp itself and Fig. 10 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 8 showing the lamp connected to the auxiliary apparatus. Fig. 12 is a diagram of connections to the lamp when it is used on alternating current and Fig. 13 is a dialamp and Fig. 17 is an end view of the same.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings, 1 is a base member comprising a sub-base and cover in which are the auxiliary apparatus shown in Fig. 5. The wires 3, 4 and 5 connect the apparatus and the lamp electrodes through the three way plug and slot connectors 9 and 8 which serve to connect and disconnect the lamp from its apparatus. Leads 6 and 7 connect the terminals of the lamp apparatus to sup ply mains. The hollow post 13 forms with the post 15 an adjustable stand by means of which the height of the lamp may be adiustably changed and set by means of the band and screw 12. The hinge joint, 10. connecting the lamp case 2 and post, 15, serves to tilt the lamp for. starting the arc and for ad'- justing the direction of the light beam. Light filters when their use is desired are held by means of filter holders, 11, against the front of the box, 35.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the lamp casing 2 showing the opening 28 therein in which are the slides 29 and 30 by means of which the width of the slit. 31, is adjustable. The slides move between the casing proper, 2, and the false front or shutter guide, 34, and have attached to their outside edges tabs the ends of which are turned over to form the handles 32 and 33 by means of which the slides are of electrical insulating material and has mounted on it the electrical connections between the leads, 3, 4 and 5 and the electrodes of the lamp.

In Fig. 4 is shown the upper lead cap, 23, of the lamp casing in which are the ventilating holes 36. The handles of the slit shutters are shown at 32 and 33. The housing 35 on which are mountedthe filter holders 11 is mounted on the shutter guide 34.

In Fig. 5 is shown the arrangement of the auxiliary apparatus of the lamp as arranged on the base. The twomains, 6 and 7, are connected to the terminals, 21 and 22, respectively. From 21 a lead passes to one side of the transformer, 14, and another lead, 3, passes to one of theslots of the socket, 8. The other end of the transformer, 14, is connected by lead, 4, to another slot in the socket, 42. From the terminal, 22, a connection is made to one side of the resistance, 27 andlead, 20, connects the other side of the resistance, 27, to one side of the inductance, 16. The other side of the inductance is connected by lead 5 to a third slot in the socket, 42. From a midpoint of the transformer, 14, a lead 19 connects through a switch 17 to a terminal on the lead, 20. A diagram of the apparatus and connections of Fig.5 is shown in Fig. 8. This apparatus connected to the lamp, 40, is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 11. Fig.12 shows the connections of the apparatus to the lamp for the use of the lamp on alternating current and Fig. 13 shows their connections for direct current.

The lamp of this invention (see Figs. 9, 1O 14) has a U-shaped cathode chamber, 43, with a cathode terminal, 44, sealed into one leg, 48, of the U and on to the other leg, 49, of the U is connected a V-shaped anode chamber, or chambers 46. The anode chamber, 46, is connected to the leg, 49, of the U at the point of the V and has formed at the ends of the V legs, 47, pockets, 50, for anode mercu pools. For economy of space I form the V in a plane at right angles with the plane of the U and with the axis of the V in the plane of the U. The anode pockets, 50, I form at right angles with the legs, 47, of the V and tentimes tubes are broken or weakened at the seal-in or elsewhere by the liquid hammer of the flowin mercury during movement and especially 1n shipment, but these disk baflies 42 and the reduced area of passageway for the mercury reduce the velocity of flow to a point where the mercury hammer is without serious hazard.

Another manner of forming the bame electrode that I use is to tightly wind a wire of the electrode material into a flat spiral leaving either end of the spiral. extend to serve as the electrode lead. Figs. 16 and 17 show such a baflie electrode as I use in which the lead 45 is left extending from the outer end of the spiral, 42.

The are tube itself is so designed at the anodes that there is room in the anode pockets for sufiicient mercury for the lamp to operate in a horizontal position, with the leg 49 up as shown in Fig. 15.

The V legs connecting the tops of the anode pocket with the top of the cathode leg 49 are also designed to serve as condensation chambers during the vertical or near vertical operation of the lamp by making them with considerable radiating surface, as by making them narrow and high. The proper mercury.

level in the respective electrode chambers is maintained by the occasional overflow of the mercury anode pools.

The lamp is started by tilting it backward to a horizontal position, mercury fiowlng from the cathode chamber into the anode pockets, and returning it to the vertical osition whereupon the mercury flowing ack again makes momentary connection between the cathode and the anode and an arc is formed thereby.

For the operation of my apparatus on alternating current I close switch 17 and connect the alternating supply mains to terminals 21 and 22. One half of coil 14 now functions as the primary of an auto-transformer with the resistance-27 in series therewith in one of the leads thereto. The entire coil acts as a secondary with leads from the outside terminals of the coil to the two anodes 45 of the lamp. A lead connects the midpoint of the transformer coil through an inductance ry 16 to the cathode of the lamp. By placing the usual arc stabilizing resistance in the primary of the auto-transformer I provide that the energy absorbed therein does not pass through the transformer circuit and the transformer capacity is kept at a lower value than would be possible with the stabilizing resistance connected in the cathode lead or in the'two anode leads. This arrangement also provides that the voltage betweenthe outside terminals of the transformer and therefore between the lamp anodes is kept at a minimum value and so minimizes any tendency to arcing between the anodes of the lamp which as can beseen acts as a rectifier. Also the resistance in the primary circuit serves to limit the primary current and to protect the transformer in case of a short circuit between the secondary terminals.

For use on direct current I open switch 17 and thereby disconnect the midpoint of the auto-transformer from both the supply mains 7 and the cathode. This leaves the main 7 connected through the stabilizing resistance 27 and coil 16 to the cathode. Main 6 is connected to both the anodes of the lamp, the coil 14 remainin in one of the branches thereto. If conditions require, I shunt coil 14 by a short-circuiting switch.

I claim as my inventlonz A mercury vapor lamp comprising an arc tube having a cathode chamber connected to one end thereof, a lurality of anode chambers connected to t e opposite end thereof, each of said chambers havmg aportion thereof extending alongside of said are tube, and

all of said chambers being on the same side of a plane passing through the center line of said are tube, mercury 1n said lamp and electrode leads sealed into said chambers, said lamp being operable with substantially the same current potential characteristic with said are tube in either a vertical or a horizontal position.

Signed at Hoboken in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey this 26th day of September A. D. 1923.

- LEROY J. BUTTOLPH. 

